2-22 We have arrived in the Virgin Islands. Originally we wanted to be here for New Years but then we decided to savor the trip and take our time. The Virgin Islands are made up of the Spanish, British and US Virgin Islands. We are currently on the island of Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands. We took the bikes and explored this little island. The harbor is large with many sailboats so after two nights we are moving to Isla Culebrita a small island just a few miles away to snorkel and swim with the turtles. This whole area is a national turtle reserve.

2-25 Today we dropped the hook at St Thomas in the USVI. We are in Brewers Bay near the airport. This nice little area has about 6 other boats here anchored off a picturesque beach. We know there are other boats here that we have met along the way and are anxious to get together and tell our tales!

We took our bikes and rode around the island a bit but it is very hilly and our poor legs.... We will need to come back here in a week to get mail so we are not going to stop at Charlotte Amalie now, we will head to St John.

2-28 We sailed to St John and spent the first night in Caneel Bay on a mooring ball. Most of the island and the water around St John is part of the National Park. The water and coral is magnificent, because of that most bays are off limits to anchoring. We stopped at Trunk Bay and picked up a mooring ball to snorkel and moved to Cinnamon Bay. Great snorkeling here to and I got several good pictures of a Spotted Eagle Ray and a few turtles.

3-3 We sailed to the east end of the island and found an area not in the park so we could anchor. Mooring balls are cheaper in the park than in the BVI but it can still add up. We found a great spot to snorkel with the best selection of coral we have seen yet. Then today we went over to Coral Bay to have lunch at Skinny Legs and then moved back to snorkel again at the same great site.

3-5 We have completed sailing around St John and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Many wonderful bays with beautiful water and beaches. We even found a hardware store that sold Penofin so I can keep the exterior teak in shape.

3-6 Mail is expected so we are back in Charlotte Amalie. This will be the first time we have had mail since we left the US last fall. We had a bunch sent to us in the Bahamas but we are still trying to locate that package.

3-9 We have had the first real rainy weather so far. For about 3 days it rained on and off so we played a lot of games. There are at least 2 cruise ships in port every day and one day there were 4. Our mail arrived from our mail service and we restocked the liquor shelves and pantry. We are just waiting for some soda syrup that was shipped to us here and we will head to the BVI.

3-13 Five months ago today we threw off the dock lines, what fun it has been. Finally arrived in the BVI and cleared customs then sailed to Little Jost Van Dyke for a bottle of champagne. There is a new little bar here - Foxy's Taboo. Our good friends on Sea Angel are joining us for a while before we leave for St Martin.

3-17 Great Snorkeling at Monkey Point! Then sailed to North Gorda Sound for a few days of sun, beach and more snorkeling. Stopped at the Dogs for more snorkeling and now we are at Virgin Gorda. Tomorrow we stop at The Baths and Fallen Jerusalem.

3-20 Foxy's - the most famous bar in the BVI. We will finally made it to Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke today. This was Sea Angel's first look at the BVIs. We arrived to listed to singing from the little church on the beach and found out later it was a funeral for Sidney from Peace and Love Bar in Little Harbor. Every harbor in the BVI has a beach bar or two, this is the chartering capital of the world. Every where we look we see charter boats but there are lots of private boats as well.

3-21 We have had several great days of sailing! The wind is around 15 knots and we are having a ball. Today the gunhale was under water during a gust and water poured into the port holes, cushions are now drying on the deck. What a rush! Anchored in Cane Garden Bay again for tonight.

3-25 Whales! We have been hearing reports of whale sitings on the VHF and the other day we were sailing past Marina Cay on our way to Anagada and we had an Orka Whale playing around on the top of the water waving at us ( I am sure he was waving). We saw Humpback wales near the D.R. but this was a treat. Our very own Shamu putting on a show for us! We see lots of sea life and that is just one marvelous aspect of this incredible voyage. Anagada was nice as I have always wanted to go there. Sea Angel and Sailacious were there for two nights. We rented a car and toured the island. Not much to see except one beach that we really enjoyed. The local fishermen were bringing in the daily lobster catch while we where having a drink at a beach bar. Garbage buckets full of lobster! I tried to buy a few but they wanted $10 per pound. OUCH, We bought lobster in Nassau for $5.00 each and they were delicious.

3-30 Tonight is our last night with Sea Angel. There will be copious amounts of rum shared tonight (I am sure) and Ed and Benia will start heading back west. We will move on to St Martin, the winds are supposed to change on Saturday and blow from the North so we should be able to sail the entire way.

4-1 Hugs and kisses to Sea Angel, we have enjoyed the time we spent together. We cleared out at the customs dock at West End and headed for Peter Island. The next day we snorkeled the Wreck of the Rhone and Cistern Point. The highlight was a big beautiful Porcupine Fish about 15 inches long.

The last night here we spent at Cooper Island, we got there early so we could anchor at the south end in the bay full of mooring balls. Three other boats anchored near us before dark and the last one was a cat that dropped the hook about 50 feet from our anchor. We were concerned so we put out a second anchor so we would not swing into them. Well, the current and the light winds had all the boats swinging cattiwhompus on anchors and mooring balls. The cat that was close to us woke us up at about 2 AM by yelling and whistling. They hadn't been to bed yet and realized our boats were so close our dingy was banging on the hull of theirs. Then the wind really started to pick up and trying to re-anchor was out because there is such a small area suitable for anchoring. I suggested we just raft the boats and after an hour we decided we were in good shape and got a few hours of sleep. The next morning we found out they were from Chicago and were so grateful for our help that they gave us a case of beer! No small thing here, the case of Miller Lite costs about $30. This is Good Friday and we are leaving for the crossing at 1:00 PM.